Lucía Etxebarría tears into Spain's euthanasia law: "It kills the old and the poor"

Lucía Etxebarría denounces that Spain's euthanasia law prioritises death over life, cutting support and pressuring the most vulnerable. Data on healthcare costs.

English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published

Lucía Etxebarría dismantles the euthanasia law: "It's a law that kills the old and the poor"

The writer and activist Lucía Etxebarría, who describes herself as pogre and a defender of social rights, has hit the nail on the head: Spain's euthanasia law, far from being an instrument of freedom, is turning into a machine for eliminating the weakest. "They grant you euthanasia faster than they give you a palliative care appointment," she denounces. And it is no exaggeration: she herself, with a chronic illness that causes her pain, has seen her palliative treatments and rehabilitation withdrawn, having to pay for them out of her own pocket. The message from the State, she says, is clear: die, you're cheaper that way.

The paradox of quick death

The data backs up her thesis. According to an analysis circulating in healthcare circles, 90% of healthcare spending is concentrated in the last five years of life. If that stage is shortened, the savings for the public purse are immense. It is no surprise that the bureaucracy for accessing euthanasia is more streamlined than that for palliative care. In Spain, there are documented cases of ALS patients who requested euthanasia not out of a desire to die, but because they could not get the support they needed to live with dignity. The paradox is brutal: a law designed to guarantee autonomy ends up pushing those without resources towards death.

The case of Noelia: error or design?

One of the most controversial cases is that of Noelia, an ALS patient whose euthanasia process has been described as an "aberration" by those familiar with the details. As has come to light, Noelia received euthanasia without all avenues of support having been exhausted. Her story has become the symbol of a law that, in practice, acts as a "death counter" for those who have no voice or resources to oppose it.

The financial connection: pension savings and inheritances

It is not a conspiracy theory. In the United Kingdom, openly taxing inheritances at 45% if the deceased is over 75 has been floated. The proposal, debated in the media, creates a fiscal incentive to die earlier so that heirs pay less. It is a clear economic stimulus for the elderly to "disappear" on time. The writer sums it up bluntly: "It's not a euthanasia law, it's a law that kills the old and the poor." The connection with pension cuts and the collapse of the healthcare system is evident.

The eugenic drift

Beyond the savings, some analysts point to a worrying drift: selective euthanasia, aimed at the chronically ill, the disabled and the elderly without family support. A hierarchy is established where some lives are worth more than others. There is talk of "social eugenics", and it is recalled that history has already seen programmes like the Nancy Aktion T4, which began by eliminating the mentally ill. The comparison is harsh, but the parallels with the rhetoric of "lives not worth living" are disturbing.

There are no easy answers. The euthanasia law may be a legitimate right for those who suffer without remedy, but when applied in a context of cuts, lack of palliative care and economic pressure, it becomes a trap for the most vulnerable. The question that remains is how many lives are being lost not by their own will, but because the system has decided they are too expensive.


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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (42 replies).

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